Concept
Dreaming oneself into existence
Thomas Ogden's account, developed from 2003 onwards on the basis of Bion's theory of dreaming, of what analysis is for. Dreaming here is the unconscious psychological work of processing emotional experience, and it goes on in waking life as well as in sleep. Experience a person cannot dream remains as undreamt dreams, which are not experienced at all and show up as psychosomatic or psychotic states, or as interrupted dreams, such as night terrors, where the emotion is too disturbing for dreaming to continue. In the session, the analyst participates in dreaming the patient's undreamt and interrupted dreams, chiefly through reverie. In this way the patient becomes able to dream their own experience and so to become more fully alive and more fully themselves.
- Broader concept
- Alpha function
- Narrower concepts
- Talking-as-dreaming
- Introduced by
- Thomas H. Ogden
- Key works
- 2
introduced by
- Thomas H. Ogden 2003 The 2003 paper introduces undreamt and interrupted dreams; the 2005 book frames the analyst's task as dreaming the patient's undreamt dreams so that the patient can dream themselves more fully into existence.
derives from
- Alpha function 2003 Undreamt dreams are experience that alpha function has not been able to transform into material for dreaming.
- Reverie 2005 The analyst's reverie is the main way in which they take part in dreaming the patient's undreamt dreams.